I am not an expert on prayer. Anyone with a website as bipolar as mine, jumping from hard philosophy to “Haha, backhoe go brrrr!”, cannot possibly be an expert on anything. But like any non-expert with a website from which to preach, I have some thoughts on it; hopefully they are useful and encouraging.
Does God Hear our Prayer?
Absolutely. If you believe in God, and understand the many qualities that we ascribe to Him (though they are in fact one quality in Him), you will be aware that He is omniscient. God knows all and nothing is hidden from Him. He knows the number of hairs on your head, a thought you will have twenty-three years from now, and He knows who will join Him in His kingdom. If He knows all this and more, what would make you think that He does not hear your prayer?
Because God is omniscient, He hears your prayers; of that, you can be certain. The next question that naturally arises is, “Does God answer all our prayers?” This is a trickier question, but I believe He does answer all prayers but not always the way we want them answered. If I prayed for something unworthy or unbecoming, like that my rival misses out on a promotion at work, indeed, God answers: He either answers negatively, or He does not seem to answer.
What I mean by seem is that, sometimes, no answer is the answer. If you think I am engaging in sophistry here, I recommend you look up the definition of acquiescence, for that is an instance in the affirmative of no answer being the answer. Here, we speak of the negative, viz., no answer is the answer but negatively rather than positively as in the case of acquiescence. Just because God does not answer in the affirmative or negative with a direct “yes” or “no” does not mean He does not answer at all. As demonstrated, it could be a sort of negative acquiescence.
Regular Prayer
Becoming regular with prayer can be a challenge, and it is best to follow the classic method of habit bundling. If, for instance, the first thing you do in the morning is brew coffee, pair that habit with the additional habit of prayer. Or, when you wake up, perhaps make the first thing you see a holy item like an icon to remind you to pray. These are just examples and I am sure you can find some more on your own. You do not need to do this permanently, but it helps tremendously when getting started to have already set habits trigger prayer.
Memorized Prayers
A lot of Protestants are not keen on pre-written prayers, but I will quickly defend them.
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You can be sure that the prayers are good prayers coming from good sources. If I see a prayer written by one of the saints, I have no objection to praying it.
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Some think prayers must be personal. That is partially true, but not entirely. St. Thomas Aquinas’ prayer before Mass, though not especially personal, still contains all that anyone should be praying for before Mass. Indeed, praying for some personal particulars is perfectly fine, but they do not discredit the value of these beautiful pre-written prayers.
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Pre-written prayers are convenient in a good way. Don’t know what you should pray? Pray the Our Father, or the Hail Mary, or the Glory Be. Want to branch out? Pray the Anima Christi, or the St. Michael the Archangel prayer. The improvised prayer does not have this kind of convenience which can be at the ready at all times. For instance, if you just sat down in your car and felt the need to pray, do you think it more likely you will improvise a good prayer or pray an already great prayer? When great prayers such as these pop up into your mind without you even noticing it, then you are making progress.
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Pre-written prayers avoid the danger of heaping up petitions to God. If your own prayers seem to go on like this, “God do this, God do that…” you should try the pre-written prayers. Of course, there are great petitions, but I mean avoid the selfish and vain ones that do not have much to do with what God wants for His people. Improvised prayer can easily fall into a cycle of selfish begging without you even knowing it. Let the great prayers of the church be your guide, and follow their structure so your own improvised prayer does not become a heap of petty petitions.
There are probably more defenses to be made, but this will suffice for now. It is much easier to pray always when you always have a prayer ready.
Location
As I have written about studying in the right place, praying in the right place makes a huge difference too. I, for one, struggle to pray five decades of the rosary. When I visit the adoration chapel, however, its the easiest thing in the world. This works in a two-fold manner:
- Christ is there. He is there as much as you are… and more.
- Psychologically, when you go to the adoration chapel, you are on a kind of mission; you have an appointment with the King of kings. You go there to be with Christ, to pray to Him, to listen to Him. Because of this “mission,” you are much more likely to pray in a focused manner.
Revelation in the Adoration Chapel
As a side note, I want to mention a particularly powerful thought that came to me in adoration this past Tuesday that has stuck with me ever since. I was reflecting on salvation history and naturally started with Creation. When I came to the Fall of Adam and Eve, a seemingly insignificant verse quickly became the most important one in the story:
– And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. Genesis 3:21 RSV
This verse comes after God declaring all the bad things that both men and women will suffer: man living by the sweat of his brow, and women suffering in child-bearing. I challenge you to reflect why this following verse is so important before I reveal what I think.
Here is what occurred to me: despite all the evil and sin that the Fall brought on, God still clothed and cared for sinful humanity. This verse records the first act of God towards sinful humanity, and it is an act of incredible love. God sends our first parents out of His garden, but He does not thrust them out as He would an enemy; He sends them out with the clothing they need to carry on in their new life, the life which all of us must live today. God does not outright say, “I love you,” to His fallen man and woman, but His action of making them clothing demonstrates He loves them more than they could ever realize.
If your parish has an adoration chapel, take full advantage of it. It can change your prayer life dramatically. If not, at least find some place far away from distractions, like deep in the woods.
Who Influences Who?
If we were pagans, we would believe that our prayers and sacrifices can change God’s mind or will, and the more repetitious our petitions the more likely the gods will notice. Thankfully, we are not pagans, else we would be terribly disappointed. In prayer, we are not trying to change God’s mind or will, but are in fact trying to change our minds and wills to accord with His. Christ Himself demonstrated this in His Agony in the Garden when He prayed,
– Father, if you are willing, remove this chalice from me; nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done. Luke 22:42 RSV
God is eternal; He is changeless. We cannot change His mind, but, recognizing that He is all good, we can change ourselves to accord with Him and His goodness.
A Difficulty
Does this mean prayers could come to nothing, and that even well-intentioned prayers are not helpful, because God cannot be influenced? No, because God may use your very prayer as the means to accomplish your petition. For instance, it could fall under His will that you pray for the health of your brother, that is, the means of your brother’s healing is your prayer. Of course, we can never truly know if our prayers were indeed the means with certainty, else we would grow conceited, fancying ourselves as some kind of healer or soothsayer, but we pray regardless in case our prayer really is the means which God will use.
This difficulty is a child of a greater difficulty that we must make clear now: God’s omniscience does not negate our free will. Just because God always knows the outcomes does not mean He purposefully controls all the causes of those outcomes. (Do not mistake this as God being weak. He could control all things, that is within His power, but He chooses not to.)
An imperfect analogy may suffice here: suppose you are watching the first (and best) three Star Wars films for the first time. Since you have no foreknowledge of the films, you cannot know with certainty major plot points or surprises like who Luke Skywalker’s father is. You enjoyed the trilogy so much that you watch them again. Now you have foreknowledge of the films and know exactly what will happen. Did your foreknowledge have any effect on the outcomes in the movie? You already know the answer to that.
So it is with God, though the analogy is imperfect. You see, the original trilogy is a static object that we cannot change, whereas God can change things. But just because God can change things does not mean He will change things. God knows every single thing you will do in life, but that does not mean He is willing or directing every movement. If He were, we could accuse Him of sin when we sin, which is absurd.
So put this difficulty to rest, and pray without ceasing, knowing that God hears and answers all prayers, and be able to respond as Christ did: “… not my will, but yours, be done.”